Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is facing a growing backlash against her updated, expanded and extended statewide Covid-19 lockdown order. In fact, tens of thousands of people have now put their names on an online recall petition in an effort to push her out of office. She issued the new Executive Order on April 9th.
The effort to oppose the Governor has picked up momentum quickly.
Residents across Michigan are expressing anger at the new order that denies people the right to garden, do home improvements, meet with neighbors, see relatives or even use a second home or cottage they own somewhere else in the state. The order also denies stores the ability to sell a wide variety of items that Whitmer deems “non- essential”. The order even prevents nurseries and garden centers [1] from operating at all at the most critical time of their annual season.
Some small business operators [2] say the Governors controversial order could mean they will be put out of business.
The petition effort [3] began the day after the Governor signed the far reaching 21-day extension of her Stay at Home order. It was widely expected Whitmer would ease some of the restrictions because much of her state is not seeing widespread Covid-19 infection but instead she dug in deeper and issued far stronger measures.
The change.org petition already had 75,000 supporters by Saturday morning and the numbers were growing fast.
It’s not clear where this might lead or if an actual recall effort is actually put together but it is a clear indication that the Governor, who is considered by many to be Joe Bidens first choice to run on the Democrats Presidential ticket this fall, will arrive with plenty of baggage to deal with.